Sunday, October 17, 2010

Biggest cover-up in SA - DA

Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance said on Sunday it would ask the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Themba Godi, for an urgent special hearing into the termination of the investigation into the arms deal.

"They need to explain why the investigation into corruption in the arms deal was closed," the DA's David Maynier and Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said in a joint statement.

The DA wanted General Anwar Dramat, the head of the Hawks, and Menzi Simelane, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, to be at the special hearing.

The DA said that advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, head of the Special Commercial Crimes Unit, should also be there to "explain the progress made with requests for mutual legal assistance to foreign countries which may assist in the investigation into the arms deal".

In the statement the DA said it believed that the decision by Dramat to close the arms deal investigation was "part of the biggest cover-up of corruption in the history of South Africa".

The DA's response came after the last two "legs" of the investigation into the arms deal were closed, the Mail & Guardian reported on Friday.

The report said that while elements of the criminal justice system were still pursuing leads, it appeared that with the main investigative capacity shut down, these efforts stood little chance of success.

The DA said the Hawks knew arms deal corruption went all the way to the highest levels of government and by closing the investigation they had effectively "let some very big political fish off the hook".

"The fact is that we cannot stand by and let the biggest corruption scandal in the history of our country be buried by the Hawks."